Roll for cleaning continuous strip material



March 22, 1960 R. WIER, JR 2,929,088

ROLL FOR CLEANING CONTINUOUS STRIP MATERIAL Filed Aug. 16, 1955 ammmm'mum illllHNllillllillllllllllillfllllilj @IINIIIIINIIIWIIIIHIIIIIIIHNI mumm- 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 p uvmvrox 55515? MEX? Jr.

WIER, JR

Marh 1960 ROLL FOR CLEANING CONTINUOUS STRIP MATERIAL Filed Aug. 16, 1955 2 sheets sheet 2 INVENTOR- F1755 A? 7" J7- ROLL FOR CLEANING CONTINUOUS STRIP MATERIAL Robert Wier, Jr., Hudson, Ohio, assignorto The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 16, 1955, Serial No. 528,754 5 Claims. ci.-.-1s-2s This invention relates to cleaning and scrubbing rolls and'more particularly to scrubberzrolls used. inthe preparation of steel strip for tin-plating.

In tin-plating steel strip, the surface of thestripmust first be clean and free of scale, grease 'anddirt. It is accordingly pickled and cleaned in a hot alkali solution and then rinsed in water, while it is at the same time scrubbed vigorousiy with power-driven rotary brushes.

Heretofore,.such brushes have been made of fibers, but difficulties have been encountered intheir :use. They rapidly lose their scrubbing efficiency, because the fibers of the brushes absorb Waterand lose their stiiiness and strength. The brush soon becomes-matteddown, further impairing its usefulness. Such brushes, therefore, require constant servicing and frequent replacement.

.The present inventionprovides'a-scrubbing brush'comprising a roll having a plurality of segments, having circumferentially spaced, longitudinally extending rubber fingers which strike the strip-forciblyxwith their leading edges, then scrub across the :strip andafinally leave the strip with asnappin'g action. Initial impactiofu the fingers loosens tightly adhering scale,'dirt,-and;.grease; the fingers then bend and their leading edges scrub across thestrip; finally, the fingers leave the vstripzand return to their initial undefiected position, snapping away the :dirtfrorn the surface ofthe strip. This snappingv action-also results in the fingers being self-cleaning, an important practical consideration.

itiis accordingly a general 'objectaofxthe invention. to provide an efficient rollfor cleaning thesurfaces tof continuous metal strip or other material.

A further object is to provide a scrubber roll having a plurality of resilient, flexible-fingers" adapted to clean initially .by impact and then by a wiping andsnapping action.

.Ano'ther objectis' to provide a scrubber roll built up of sectionswhich may be easily replaced.

Still other objects are'to'provide a s'crubberirolli'having low initial cost, long life, high resistance to.ab'rasion and chemical. action and low maintenance and replacement cost.

.Further objects and advantages of the invention will'be apparent from the following description of a preferred form, reference being bad to the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is atop plan view of the 'apparatusofithe invention,showing'the cleaning of acontinuous-metal strip just prior to a tin-plating operation;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view showing the action of the fingers of the scrubbing rolls;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a roll of the invention taken substantially along lines 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a plan view of one of the sections of the scrubber roll;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a modification of the invention;

2,92%,988 PatentedMar. 22, 1950 Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view of yet :another modification of the invention;

Figure 8 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of another modification of the invention; and

Figure 9 is a plan view of yetanother modification of the invention.

The scrubber roll of the presentinvention. is .described in connection with the cleaning of strip steel to prepare it for a subsequent plating operation, but it will be .apparent that the roll can be used for cleaning many other materials and types of surfaces with equal efiectiveness. Such strip indicated at it in Figure 1 comprises; long sections welded together as at .11 :torform continuous lengths. The surface .ofthe: strip often has tightly adhering scale, dirt and grease-which is difiicult to remove completely. Moreover, the strip at the-weldtarea 11 has sharp edges and enlarged sections extending transversely across the strip, and the'longitudinal edges 12 of the strip are not uniform, often presenting.raggedcutting edges. Such material imposes severe demands upon any equipment which is used to clean it.

As the strip leavesthe cliemicahcleaning baths,.it.is passed between a pair of scrubbing'rolls 13 embodying the invention and simultaneously rinsed with cold water. Such rolls as shown in Figure l have a-plurality of circumferentially spaced, longitudinally. extending, radial fingers 14 of tough resilient material, preferably rubber of about 70'duro1neter. The-:striplil as it'enters-the rolls is traveling at a speed of about 1750 feet .per minute, and the rolls 13 are driven in the opposite direction at a peripheral speed of 2700.feet per minute, resultingin a net relative speed of v4450ieet per minutebetween. the rolls and the'strip.

As the strip reaches the bite of .ther-rolls, thefingers ,ldstrilge the strip surface:Witlrconsiderableforce; the impact oftherfingers against thestrip: being confined .to the sharp-leadingedges i .thefingers. After the initial impact, the fingers arerdefiected toassumethe shape shown at A;in ure -3-and theythen. scrubs-across.- the strip as shown atfB, retainingathis position until 1 they move out of contact .with the strip. Iustassthe fingers leave the strip, they snap forwardly, as indicated.-at"C, intortheir initial undeflected position '::and1.in..-so:'doing throw the remaining dirtfree;of-athexstripptoibeicarried away by. the rinse water. Thexactioniofzthe fingers thus consists of three steps,an tinitialzimpact by -ausharp edge to, loosen the dirt, a wiping: action ;.to scrape -the strip clean, and a rsnappiug action which'throws the dirt oif the strip. Any scale, dirt ,or i grease cpickednupebydthe fingers while scrubbing: thestripwill. likewisei be' snapped free as'the fingersxleave-the: strip, 'and:the I-fingers=accordingly .tend to: be self-cleaning.

.Inthe presentzexamplethe fingersv have a length of about 1 and: taper: from. a. thickness ofuaboutat theouter. ends to. approximately at their :bases.'-" The Esfpa cing between the teeth-atttheir outerqettds istabout An. important feature of :therpresent :invention is s-the provision of spaces .26 atthe; rootsgo'f: thet-teeth, even wben the pressure 11011111610111: is great --enough to close -the space between the outer ends of the fingers. By providing a space approximately wide at the base of the fingers, and extending radially outwardly asubstantial distance, the roll will retain its resiliency under operating conditions. Thus, when a raised portion, as for example a weld, passes through the rolls, the fingers will have enough resiliency to adapt to the weld and retain their A sectional construction makes this possible.

prises a cylindrical body 17 integral with the fingers 14 and has a length of about 4" and an outside (finger-tip) diameter of 12" as seen in Figure 5. Each section is provided with four equally spaced holes 18. The body hasa bore 19 of approximately 7 /2, enabling the section to fit slidably over a metal tube 22, which is recessed internally at its ends, as at 23. The length of the tube 22 is substantially equal to the total length of the sections to be placed thereon.

Metal aligning sleeves 24 are provided at each end of the tube; the sleeves have shoulders 25 adapted to fit snugly within the recesses 23 of the metal tube; in their flanges 26 are drilled four equally spaced holes 27,

which line up with the holes 18 in the sections. The sleeves have a longitudinally extending, central, hexagonal,

opening 28, and two radial, opposite, threaded holes 29 fitted with set screws 30.

To assemble the roll, the necessary number of sections 16, usually ll5 in number,'are placed end to end on the tube 22, with an aligning sleeve 24 at each end. The rods 34 having threaded ends 35 are passed through openings 27 and 18, and nuts 36 are threaded on and tightened. The unit is placed over a shaft of hexagonal cross-section 37 adapted to fit slidaoly within the corresponding openings 28 in the sleeves 24, thus forming a. concentric structure. The four set screws 30 are finally tightened onto the shaft, preventing axial movement of the unit, and

completing the assembly.

In some cases, the sections may be bonded or otherwise fastened to cylindrical sleeves, which fit slidably over and are keyed directly onto a suitable shaft.

A modification of the invention is shown in Figure 6, characterized by interlocking sections 40 which have longitudinally extending projections 41 meshing with corresponding projections 41 of adjacent sections, locking the sections together so they rotate as a unit. If desired, the scrubbing fingers 42 may extend at an angle to the axis of rotation as shown in Figure 6.

In yet another modification of the invention, as shown in Figure 7, the roll is built up of sections 43 in which the fingers 44 of adjacent sections extend in difierent directions. The sections may also be so placed that the fingers extend in opposite directions from the central, axial plane of the roll. This arrangement of the fingers helps to center and guide the strip as it passes through the scrubbing rolls.

The modification shown in Figure 8 is useful in cleaning curved surfaces and comprises a roll in which the sections 45 present a curved configuration symmetrical about the axis of rotation of the roll.

The sectional roll construction has several advantages. For example, the sections of the roll which engage the edges of the strip are likely to be cut and abraded at a faster rate than the middle sections andto require more frequent replacement. An alternative is to mold such sections of a harder material than the middle sections.

Furthermore, sectional construction makes it possible to lengthen or shorten the rolls for strips of varying width, thereby reducing equipment inventories.

In some cases, the noise generated by rolls having the fingers spaced equally about the roll circumference is objectionable, especially in high-speed cleaning. To reduce this noise, the roll may be divided into radial sections whose fingers have different spacings. The modification of Figure 9, for example, shows a roll divided into eight radial sectors, 50, 51, 52 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, each sector having 12 fingers. Sectors and 54 are 38 15'; sectors 52 and 56 are 51 45; and sectors 51, 53, and 57 are 45". Thus, a roll results in which the spacing between the fingers varies around the roll circumference. This is efiective in minimizing noise of operation.

Another method of reducing noise is to oflset adjacent roll sections circumferentially, whereby the regular fingerpattern is broken up.

While I have shown in Figures 2 and 3 a pair of opposed scrubber rolls, it may be desirable to substitute for one scrubber roll a solid back up roll turning in the same direction as the strip.

it is to be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments shown, and that various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the essential features of which are summarized by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A rotary rubber scrubber roll for cleaning a strip of rapidly moving steel after it leaves the cleaning bath and prior to a plating operation, comprising a plurality of adjoining, coaxial annular sections, each section comprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced, resilient fingers extending generally axially or" said roll, said fingers protruding radially outwardly in medial planes passing through said fingers and the center of said roll, the bases of said fingers being wider than the space between them, the radial length of each said finger being such that its radially outer portion, after initial impact with said strip, deflects during scrubbing contact with said strip and derives support from engagement with the outer portion of an adjacent trailing finger, and each said deflected outer finger portion, after scrubbing said strip, returns from said deflected position into its original medial plane.

2. Theroll of claim 1 and generally axially extending means for locking said sections together for rotation as a unit.

3. The roll of claim 2 and interlocking projections on said sections.

4. The roll of claim 1, in which said fingers extend longitudinally at an angle to the axis of rotation of said roll.

5. The roll of claim 1, in which the spacing between adjacent fingers varies about the circumference of said roll.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Cella Apr. 9, 1957 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 2s 929 0a8 7 March 22; 1960 Robert WieI- Jr It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 3 line 20 for The read an Tie 'coiumn 4 line 37, for "'said'fi second occurrenee read its line 38,, for "its read said Signed and sealed this 13th day of September 1960.

(SEAL) Attest:

KARL H. AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

